Lowly Somalia shock Kenya in Cecafa U17 tourney

What you need to know:

  • The Group A match was staged at at Muyinga Stadium.
  • Kenya will now meet neighbours Uganda in the semis.

The Kenya national Under-17 team on Friday suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to Somalia in the ongoing Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) Under-17 championship in Burundi.

The Group A match was staged at Muyinga Stadium.

The loss means the Kenyan lads finish second in the group with four points but with a superior goal difference over hosts Burundi who edged out Ethiopia 1-0 in another Group A match played at Gitega Stadium. Somalia topped the group with Burundi third and Ethiopia last.

Kenya will now meet neighbours Uganda while Somalia will play the winner between Tanzania and Sudan in the semi-finals next week. Tanzania and Sudan face-off on Sunday at Muyinga Stadium in the final Group B match.

Tanzania head into the Sudan match with a single point.

Uganda secured their semi-final slot with a 3-0 win over Sudan on Wednesday to finish top on seven points.

Kenya kicked off the third edition of this competition in style, whipping Burundi 4-0 last Saturday but were held to a 0-0 draw by Ethiopia on Tuesday.

Ethiopia are playing without Ahmed Nasir, Lomene Mesfia and Muse Kebela - who were expelled on Sunday for featuring in their 3-1 win over Somalia without the required age limit documents.

Cecafa required participating associations to submit names of players born after January 1, 2002.

As a consequence, Ethiopian federation was fined Sh500,000, refundable to world football governing body, Fifa, and forfeited their Group A match versus Somalia on a 3-0 basis.

The same fate also befell Zanzibar, who came along with 12 ineligible players, hence being disqualified and fined Sh1.5 million to leave Group B with three teams.

They will remain suspended from all Cecafa sanctioned tournaments until the fine is fully paid.